This month's cover story in Stores Magazine, a publication of the National Retail Federation, poses the question, "Is Click-to-Call the right call for e-commerce?"  The answer is a resounding "Yes!"

 According to the article, "Amazon.com, J.Crew, Sears and Macys.com are among the early adopters and, though they’re not offering any hints just yet about return on investment, their intentions are clear: improve conversion rates, reduce shopping cart abandonment and maintain a firm grasp on high-value customers."

“Online retailers are using click-to-call technology to create immediacy and to raise the level of comfort,” says John Federman, CEO of Reston, Va.-based eStara, which specializes in click-to-call and call-tracking solutions. “The reality is that self-service cannot always be achieved online, particularly when making complex purchasing decisions; having click-to-call as an option reduces the friction between the consumer and the retailer. More retailers are finding that for high-value transactions, there’s nothing like the power of voice for closing the deal.”

Federman, whose company counts DaimlerChrysler, Amazon.com and Continental Airlines among its clients, says that companies using click-to-call services have averaged abandon-rate reductions of 22 to 25 percent from pages with a click-to-call text-box. In addition, eStara customers report a significant increase in transaction conversions from click-to-call users versus toll-free callers.